Vehicles include airbags to restrain occupants during vehicle impacts. Vehicles can include a plurality of different types of airbags in different locations of the vehicle to restrain the occupants during a variety of impact types. For example, the vehicle can include a front driver airbag deployed from the steering wheel, a front passenger airbag deployed from the instrument panel, side curtain airbags deployed from the roof or door of the vehicle, etc. The combination of various types of airbags can be deployed to restrain occupants during several impact types such as front impacts, side impacts, rear impacts, rollovers, etc.
Another type of impact that the vehicle may be subjected to is an oblique impact. An oblique impact can be an impact at an angle between the vehicle and object. The vehicle can partially overlap the object during the oblique impact. For example, a crash test for oblique impact involves an impact with the vehicle at a 15 degree angle relative to the deformable moving barrier with 35% of the vehicle overlapping the barrier. During this test, the vehicle may be arranged relative to the deformable moving barrier such that the driver side front corner, i.e., the left side front corner, of the vehicle first impacts the barrier.
During an oblique impact, a driver of the vehicle may move forward and to the left toward an A-pillar of the vehicle, i.e., the front driver side pillar of the vehicle. During this movement, the front driver airbag may restrain the driver. However, due to the angular motion of the driver during the oblique impact, the driver may slide along the airbag toward the A-pillar. In addition to, or in the alternative to, restraint by the front driver airbag, the driver side curtain airbag may restrain the driver. However, a gap may still remain between the front driver airbag and the driver side curtain airbag.
One solution to restrain the driver from the A-pillar is the addition of an airbag in the A-pillar. During the oblique impact, the airbag may be deployed to restrain the driver as the driver moves toward the A-pillar. However, the airbag in the A-pillar results in an increase in the size of the A-pillar. This increased size is undesirable because this increase in size of the A-pillar may increase blind spots and may be unaesthetic.
Accordingly, there remains an opportunity to design a system directed toward restraining a driver of a vehicle from impacting the A-pillar of the vehicle during an oblique impact.